Niagara, the falls

All good things come to an end, and we finally had to pack up and leave Ontario. Many many good memories of our visit!! The driving was tedious, like any road trip, but it was WAY cheaper than flying, then renting a car. One thing that made the road trip MUCH more tolerable was Kate’s suggestion that we stop by Cracker Barrel to check out a book-on-cd for the trip. GREAT IDEA!! We found a fabulous book to enjoy – it was Michael Crichton’s last book (he died of cancer last year). The title was “Pirate Latitudes” – really really good!! Great characters, great story.

We left Maitland, Ontario, and re-traced our steps back down the 401 highway (we found out that Canadian highways that start with a “4” have at least 4 lanes). We came back southwest as far as Toronto, then diverted to the south to head to Niagara Falls, Ontario. Son Bret had recommended that we see the falls from the Canadian side because we’d be so much closer to the falls than we could be on the American side. He was right – we could *almost* reach down and touch the water right where it plummeted over the edge. The whole thing was just stunning, breath-taking! We took lots and lots of photos, then headed down to where we could take a voyage on the “Maid of the Mist”. I’m sure you’ve heard of that – the blue-and-white boats that take you right up to the spot where the water comes thundering down and you get all wet. Well, we did that, and we got all wet 🙂 They give you some throw-away plastic ponchos, and those work pretty well – oh, by the way, are your *shoes* waterproof? Ya might wanna check.

I’ll make my confession now – I had seen pictures of the falls before, had seen pictures of the “Maid of the Mist” before. Yawn. I was looking forward to seeing the Falls, but taking the boat trip had never seemed like that big an attraction to me before. But, when Kate explained that if I didn’t get interested and excited about it, RIGHT NOW, I’d be walking home, well – I changed my attitude! I’m glad I did – it was indeed neat, I did love it! Yes, REALLY! 🙂 I have explained to Kate before that I have this problem about GOING PLACES – I usually like it when I get there, but somehow I dread the going. I am working on this, trying to do better. So far, she hasn’t had to draw her gun. So, here are some pics to share:

Niagara Falls is one of those things you just have to go see – no picture, no description, can do it.

And, don’t be like me, don’t be afraid to have fun! So, get off that couch (as my daughter Natalie said)! She was joking in that context, but it’s true – no one will bring these things to you – go get ’em!